U.S. files antitrust suit against Apple, major book publishers

The U.S. government has suedApple and the major book publishers today on claims of collusion and anti-trust in the ebook market.

Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster were all sued in New York district court, with Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins already settling their suits.

Apple and Macmillan have refused to settle with the Justice Department and deny they had any part in colluding on the price of digital books. Both have agreed to argue "that pricing agreements between Apple and publishers enhanced competition in the e-book industry," an industry which used to be ruled by Amazon totally.

The Justice Department is looking into how Apple got publishers to change the way they charged for e-books. Before the iPad, Amazon sold ebooks for a lot cheaper than they currently sell for and prices were mixed whereas they are now standardized with little flexibility. This new model is called the "agency model," which only gives publishers, not the vendors, the ability to set ebook prices.

In their suit, the government is looking for a settlement that will allow Amazon and other retailers to get back on the "wholesale model," where they can decide what to charge their customers.

5 user comments

I so hope Apple loses this because there's no doubt in my mind that they colluded. Frakkin' greedy jagoffs!!

Again...it's no wonder that a company that gears its products to simpleminded, simpleton people is potentially the first EVER company worth a trillion dollars. Perfect proof that the world is majority staked by idiots. Myself and a few that I know being the definitive exception! Isn't having the business of non-thinkers enough Apple???......now you have to go and price fix.

I've always believed that electronic editions of books should be sold at a price that is cheaper then for a physical version of it.

With an electronic version of it, the infrastructure for delivering it need not be as extensive as would be needed for a physical version of it. Not to mention that with the DRM that is part of every electronic book, you cannot pass this on to your friends or family, or even resell it, when you are finished with it. There should something to compensate for that.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 17 Apr 2012 @ 1:59